MILAN, ITALY – All seven Canadian boats racing on the third day of the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy have advanced through heats to semi-finals.

World Champion and Olympic bronze medalist, Mark de Jonge of Halifax, NS won his heat in the Men’s K1 200m to pass through to the semi-final taking place tomorrow. de Jonge had the second fastest time overall in heats today and was only preceded by France’s Maxime Beaumont. de Jonge will attempt to defend his World Championship title in the final on Sunday. He currently holds the World’s fastest time for the event at 33.961 seconds.

The Men’s C2 1000m duo of Ben Russell (Dartmouth, NS) and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny (Trois-Rivières, QC) also won their heat to move on to tomorrow’s semi. Russell and Beauchesne-Sévigny have been fourth at the last two World Championships. They need a top-six result in the final on Sunday to qualify Canada a quota spot for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe of Trois-Rivières, QC won her heat as well in the Women’s C1 200m. There is record participation in the event with five heats. Vincent-Lapointe is an eight-time World Champion. She will race the semi tomorrow and the final is on Sunday. Women’s C1 is currently a non-Olympic event but the strong participation numbers at this year’s World Championships will boost chances for inclusion at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Michelle Russell of Fall River, NS finished fourth in the Women’s K1 200m heat to qualify for Saturday’s semi. Tomorrow will be a double race day for Russell as she competes in the B-final of the K1 500m as well.

The Women’s K2 200m pair of Genevieve Orton (Lake Echo, NS) and Una Lounder (Dartmouth, NS) also finished fourth in their heat to advance to tomorrow’s semi.

In K4 action, the Men’s K4 1000m crew of Brady Reardon (Burlington, ON), Adam van Koeverden (Oakville, ON), Pierre-Luc Poulin (Lac Beauport, QC) and Philippe Duchesneau (Sherbrooke, QC) finished sixth in their heat to qualify for tomorrow’s semi.

The Women’s K4 500m crew of Geneviève Beauchesne-Sévigny (Trois-Rivières, QC), Émilie Fournel (Montréal, QC), Kathleen (KC) Fraser (Toronto, ON) and Hannah Vaughan (Dartmouth, NS) were seventh in their heat and advanced to tomorrow’s semi as well. Quota qualification is on the line as World Championships are the only opportunity to qualify a K4 for the Olympic Games. The top ten crews with representation from four continents will earn the spots. K4 finals take place on Sunday – the last day of competition.

Canada has three boats in A-finals tomorrow. Mark Oldershaw will race the Men’s C1 1000m final at 11 a.m. EST and Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel will race the Men’s K2 200m just fifteen minutes later. A top six result is needed in both events to earn an Olympic quota spot. In non-Olympic event competition, the Women’s C2 500m crew of Katie Vincent and Nadya Crossman-Serb will lead off at 10:26 a.m. Races are being streamed online in live time.

Summary of Results

Full Results

Video

CanoeKayak Canada is the national governing body for competitive paddling in Canada. The organization’s vision is to be a Canadian sport for families, communities and champions. From supporting clubs to developing a competitive National Team, CanoeKayak Canada works to grow a sport which is a rich part of Canada’s heritage.

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Media Contact:

Ian Miller
Communications and Marketing Officer, CanoeKayak Canada
613.314.1352
imiller@canoekayak.ca